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A new twist
ON TWEED

Huntsman’s competition to design a new tweed for the house found its winner last week, when a panel of sartorial experts judged Mark Lorenzen the victor, singling him out for his houndstooth design in a beautifully muted palette.

The competition, which had run from late last year until the end of February, attracted over 250 entrants from around the world, who each posted their tweed designs to Instagram. The 20 designs with the most Instagram likes were then put before a panel of judges last week, who gathered for a lunch at London’s 5 Hertford Street to deliberate over the entries.

Campbell Carey, Huntsman’s creative director and head cutter, described Lorenzen’s design as a “phenomenal hound’s tooth, with lovely greens and moss greys,” noting that its palette evoked the colours of the “Scottish moors.”

Among the judges were interior designer Nicky Haslam, journalist and author Nick Foulkes, television personalities Trinny Woodall and June Sarpong, and Toby Bateman, managing director of Mr Porter, with the lunch hosted by Huntsman’s chairman Pierre Lagrange, and Robin Birley, who owns 5 Hertford Street. During the event, each judge pinned their name onto their favourite entry, with the finalists’ designs displayed on a board at the club.

Campbell Carey, Darren Kennedy, Tom Chamberlin, Pierre Lagrange

Several judges also voted for their pick remotely, via a private Instagram account – among them were Dylan Jones of GQ, Anthony Peck and his son Zack Peck, and George Bamford.

After some lively debate – there was initially a dead heat, when three designs had received an equal number of votes – Lorenzen’s design emerged the winner

Darren Kennedy & Trinny Woodall

Now, Lorenzen will be invited to Huntsman’s Savile Row headquarters to have his tweed made into an entirely bespoke jacket. And his design will have a broader influence, too, with a bolt of his tweed set to go into production at the 16th Century woollen mill in Scotland that supplies Huntsman’s tweeds, becoming one of the myriad fabrics that Huntsman’s customers can choose amongst.